Montana wood products industry sees gains
<p>Logging operations on private land along the North Fork Road just south of Home Bottoms Ranch Store in July 2014.</p>
An economist at the University of Montana’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research reports that Montana’s wood products industry experienced the strongest two quarters since 2009.
Todd Morgan, director of forestry industry research at the bureau, said wages paid to production workers were up 20 percent, the number of production workers was up 3 percent and lumber production increased about 4 percent at Montana sawmills in the first half of 2014 compared to the first half of 2013. Growth in the second quarter was slower but still improved from 2013 and the previous three years.
“Montana wood products results for 2009 and 2010 were the lowest since the end of World War II, and their recovery has been slow but fairly steady,” Morgan said. “U.S. home-building has increased more slowly than predicted for years and is still not back to its long-term average, which has contributed to slow growth in Montana’s wood products industry.”
Montana’s plywood, particleboard and medium-density fiberboard production levels were somewhat lower in the first half of 2014 than for the same period last year, Morgan said, but that was pretty much the case across the U.S. with slower-than-expected housing starts.
Production wages in Montana experienced the most substantial growth. Wages were 20 percent higher than the first half of 2013, totaling $37.4 million. The number of production workers increased to 1,698 — the highest since 2009 and an increase of 115 workers from the first half of 2011.
Annual lumber production in Montana is up almost 40 percent from the 2009 low, but still well below where it was in 2007 and 2008, Morgan said. About 294 million board feet of lumber was manufactured in Montana during the first half of 2014, compared to 283 million board feet in the first half of 2013 and about 264 million board feet on average for first halves of 2010 through 2012.
“Most mills in Montana are still operating below full capacity and have not yet added additional shifts,” Morgan said. “Log supply continues to be the key issue currently limiting production, as opposed to markets for finished products.”
Prices for logs delivered at Montana mills increased about 10 percent from the first to second quarter of 2014 and are about 15 percent higher than in the second quarter of 2013.
For more information, visit online at www.bber.umt.edu/fir.